Tater Reynolds of Florien, LA., weighed an 11.48 pounder to take the first place grand prize package valued at $150,000 in the 41st Annual Sealy Big Bass Splash held April 2527 on Sam Rayburn.
Reynolds took home a fully rigged Phoenix bass boat, RAM truck and $10,000, plus another $7,380 in hourly cash for the four bass he took to the scales over the course of the three-day event. He banked an additional $1,500 from Bass Cash Bash for the 11 pounder.
Reynolds said he caught three of his money fish, including the tournament winner, on a $100 nineinch crappie pattern glide bait guided by forward-facing sonar. The fourth hit a jighead minnow. All were caught 10-18 feet down around timber and brush piles in 20-24 feet of water.
There’s a good story behind Reynolds’ winning catch, which came on the second morning of the tournament.
“I caught a 7.80 pounder off a brush pile about 10 minutes earlier — it was the only fish I could see around it,” he said. “Three other boats saw me catch that fish and they swarmed me like buzzards, just waiting on me to leave.”
Reynolds left the spot alright, but he didn’t race to weigh in. Instead, he relocated to another one of his sweet spots about 150 yards away. He saw the winning fish finning around on his sonar screen. He said it was suspended around leaning login 20-24 feet.
“I caught it about 10 casts later,” he said. “Those two fish came 10 minutes apart.”
James Laramore’s story didn’t have such a happy ending.
The veteran angler from Vidor weighed in a 10.90 pounder on Day 1 of the event that he voluntarily withdrew from the competition after realizing he had removed his fire extinguisher from his boat before the tournament got underway.
Laramore told Sealy Outdoors tournament director Chris Bennett the safety rules violation was an honest mistake he will forever regret. “I didn’t even think twice about it — my boat is always ready to go,” Laramore said. “Upon going to look I realized my fire extinguisher was missing. I instantly knew where it was and realized it was a rules violation. It was a costly mistake, but had I won the tournament I would have felt bad for the guy who finished second knowing that I skipped out on a rules violation and he followed all the rules. This sport needs to maintain integrity.”
Richard Madole of Many, LA., won second place overall with a 10.77 pounder, $20,000; Matthew Williams of Lufkin, 3rd, 10.01 pounds,$15,000; Cole Moore of Georgetown, 4th, 9.41 pounds, $10,000; and Steven Briggs of Many, LA., 5th, 9.27 pounds, $5,000.
Sealy Outdoors says the tournament drew 3,100 entries. Anglers weighed in 822 bass totaling 3,857.89 pounds.
Matt Williams is a freelance writer based in Nacogdoches, mattwillwrite4u@ yahoo.com.
